AgExchange #2: Best Practices, Lessons Learned, and Effective Tools in Knowledge Sharing for Food Security and Agriculture Programs

Agency for International Development (USAID), produced a document summarizing key themes and lessons learned from the AgExchange, a three-day online discussion forum held in March 2012. The AgExchange brought together 116 participants from the United States and various countries to discuss best practices and challenges in capturing, sharing, and applying knowledge for food security and agriculture programs worldwide. Several major themes emerged from the AgExchange, including developing dynamic and demand-driven knowledge sharing activities for different stakeholders, maximizing human connections and networks for knowledge sharing, achieving sustainability through knowledge application, empowering organizations and people to share knowledge, and improving knowledge management in food security and agriculture. These themes were discussed in the context of three main topics: Current Practices and Challenges, Tools and Approaches, and The Way Forward and Next Steps. Developing dynamic and demand-driven knowledge sharing activities for different stakeholders was a key theme, with participants emphasizing the need to assess the needs and activities of various audiences, including donors, implementing organizations, and beneficiaries. Practitioners noted that knowledge sharing needs and activities can differ based on factors such as technological accessibility, language ability, content familiarity, and time allowance. To address these needs, participants discussed a wide range of tools, including publications and reports, in-person events, mentoring, marketing materials, websites, online collaboration spaces, online sharing spaces, mobile technology, and social media. Maximizing human connections and networks for knowledge sharing was another major theme, with participants highlighting the importance of partnerships and working groups in capitalizing on the diverse experience of different stakeholders working in food security and agriculture interventions. Successful partnership initiatives discussed included the development of the Feed the Future research agenda and the Public/Private Partnership Technical Forum. Working groups were also identified as an effective method for knowledge sharing and collaboration, with practitioners emphasizing the need for ownership, active facilitation, and a shared sense of responsibility for success. Achieving sustainability through knowledge application was a key theme, with participants noting the potential benefits of Performance Management Plans (PMPs) in planning and managing the process of monitoring, evaluating, and reporting progress towards achieving a direct objective. However, participants questioned whether PMPs focused too much on accountability and not enough on learning and adapting. To address this, participants suggested integrating monitoring plans into program learning agendas to allow programs to adapt as appropriate. Empowering organizations and people to share knowledge was also a major theme, with participants emphasizing the need to empower organizations and people to share knowledge and to create an environment that encourages knowledge sharing. This can be achieved through the development of knowledge management systems, the creation of knowledge sharing platforms, and the provision of training and capacity-building programs. Improving knowledge management in food security and agriculture was a key theme, with participants noting the need to improve knowledge management in food security and agriculture programs. This can be achieved through the development of knowledge management systems, the creation of knowledge sharing platforms, and the provision of training and capacity-building programs. The AgExchange included participants from the United States and various countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Canada, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Finland, Ghana, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The discussion highlighted the importance of knowledge sharing in food security and agriculture programs and the need to develop effective tools and approaches to achieve this goal.